So Spring Break saw us take off in the Jetta to parts beyond the Mason Dixon line... have I mentioned that my car gets 55-57 miles per gallon on the Interstate? This trip saw us go up I-77 to I-81 up through the Shenandoah Valley into Pennsylvania then New jersey... then into New York to Coney Island, back to Washington DC down I-95 continuing to Florence, S.C. then Columbia and Finally.. FINALLY back home for 130.00 in gas. Certainly beat a minimum of  $1,200.00 in plane tickets... not to mention we were fortunate to have friends and family who let us stay with them, saving approximately another 700 dollars minimum in hotel costs.. enough rambling on about that stuff....

.. we traveling into New Jersey and crashed at Kristen's house.We didnt really do much except hang out and visit with her family with Ryles helping make an Easter egg wreath while I-Man took the challenge of a Wii battle. I guess I went a little bit into this segment not having much planned and it turned out for the best as it was just leisurely time spent hanging out, talking, etc. Some takeout Chinese, a dinner at a local restaurant and a lot of catching up was nice. Its great to be able to simply talk to an old friend in person for a change....

Ok... we then went into Rutgers University and had a Fat Darrell at the "Greasetrucks" of Man vs Food fame... Gotta admit that I was not too impressed with Fat Darrell, but did see several sandwiches that I should have tried ordering instead of the sandwich voted #1 in the counytry... supposedly...

Now up the Turnpike, thru the Holland Tunnel... dodging people down Canal Street and into Brooklyn where we met up with Uncle Erik, Aunt Pam and their new family member Clark. I found it both amusing and a trip back in time to see what it is like with a 3 week old child, and the obvious feelings of just flat out confusion, joy, exhaustion and nervous tension that goes into suddenly having someone to care for, who is entirely dependent on you, who you have a slightly difficult time communicating with.... but Erik and Pam seem to be well equipped to come out on the other side all the better and stronger with their son. And I am already sensing that Mr Brown gets a little bit more of my perspective on things now that he has Master Clark to look after and worry bout. . Of course, we all now have run into the areas our fathers were once in and some of those things we just didnt understand.. we now see with a all too well clarity...

A trip to Coney Island, a lunch at the ORIGINAL Nathans (the one where the hotdog eating championships are held), the the subway into Manhattan, where we first hit The American Girls store... and let me tell you.. that was definitely different. But what I found memorable was the fact that our Ryles, who NEVER strays too far away (or ahead) from us - unlike I-Man who still takes off and never looks back- ... upon seeing the American Girl store virtually took off running to the store as from a half block away, not even bothering to see if we were following behind. And to see all the young girls in this place, and man oh man all the shell shocked Dads. Well, anyway, I managed to get out of there with one outfit, Glasses and some American Girls size keens for Rebecca, Ryles American Girl "friend", who is coincidentally a Jewish American girl from Brighton Beach, where we had just happened to drive thru earlier that day.... Funny that when you walk out of that store, there seems to be a ant like trail across the street to Rockefeller Centre where the LEGO store is... where I-Man took off running and I managed to make it out with a huge firefighting airplane... I thought for a while the Star Destroyer might ctch his eye, and the $440.00 price tag had me grateful for that Jetta gas mileage, but thankfully I-Man settled on a far more reasonable price range in Lego Ville...

The next day...Off to Washington DC where we hooked up with Brian and Lisa Polen. Absolutely wonderful to see them again and catching up with them and their children... we went into DC and the twins got to see The Mall and so much stuff they have seen so often on TV... It just happened to be the 44 anniversary of MLK being assassinated and there was a HUGE crowd at his memorial.. we also walked around most of the other memorials and made plans for when we return in earnest in about 14 months.... after getting a good idea for what type of shape we need to be in, we returned and had a great time catching up with the Polens and the kids made more Easter wreaths... before we tooled down I-95 to Florence....

Where we spent the night with Nana and Papa before heading into Columbia to see more family. (time for an Op/Ed diversion)I still am having a had time understanding why people in this side of the family cant seem to simply figure out how to communicate. I am about tired of every time we come into a town there is some issue. You would think grown people would quit acting like 10th graders... wasting my time and theirs. What? they think everyone is going to live forever?... i fear they are going to wake up one day... and.. its too late. But what do I know....  I DO KNOW THIS... my son and daughter has never met or seen my Father or Grandmothers... and NEVER WILL. Every time I can get my kids to see Nana, Papa and Grandma is a blessing. And when my Sister's In Law blow up in some crisis EVERY SINGLE HOLIDAY/FAMILY EVENT for the past two and half years i think its a damn shame and a waste of time. What? You think the kids dont notice you guys whispering off on your own and ask me what people are whispering about? or what you meant by the snide hushed comments about other people?  Even more importantly to me, this crap is a growing waste of my children's time. My kids and their cousins dont deserve this.

Get over yourselves.... 

now back on point... kids got to spend the tail end of THEIR trip spending time with Nana, Papa and their Uncles and Aunts and cousins. And they are already looking forward to going to see Grandma possibly real soon for a day.

Sigh... today, I was back at work. It was as if none of this even happened. So much mental energy goes into this stuff. And now I am back to the daily crappy grind with only to think about the next thing ... even if it is me sitting at a race outside a camper by myself... because I am going to do stuff, and experience stuff. I will continue to ask friends and family to join me ( and now us, as my son is now old enough to want to join me ) and I will continue to write here... and ramble on, I suppose...